The Easter After
by DragonflyonBreak
Summary: A buddy-bonding story between Jack and Bunny and a conversation that is long over due and desperately needs to be had. No slash.


A/N *pokes head out from around the couch cautiously* Hello! This is my Easter story for the year, painfully, painfully late... but it couldn't be helped. Sorry about that.

BUT! To all those stories where Bunny hits Jack because he's angry and moody about Easter coming up and then realizes what he did the second after he does it and is immediately apologetic and horrified but Jack is an emotional mess and runs away... Well. To all those stories I say, BAH!

Bunny is _waaay_ better than that.

In the movie, he freaking lost EVERYTHING on Easter. And he ALMOST hit Jack. But he didn't because he knew it was wrong - you could see it in his face, he knew it and he didn't like what he had almost done even at his lowest point. And if he didn't do it on the day he lost _everything_, then I guarantee you he won't do it on an Easter where he has got everything.

Besides, the freaking flowers painted all the eggs anyways. O.o

* * *

The weather was absolutely beautiful. The sun was rising in the distance and the world above him was a stunning mixture of reds, pinks, yellows and purples painted chaotically across the new sky.

The early morning air was chilly and there was a comfortable breezing blowing about. Everything was new and fresh - the grass was green and covered with delicate drops of dew and new flowers of every color were blooming and growing all around. The birds were already waking up and beginning to tweet their songs and there were a few butterflies that drifted lazily around the park, content to start their day early.

Bunny had been looking forward to this day for a whole year and after coming to terms with what had happened last Easter... he almost felt grateful for the whole experience. As frightening and horrific as it had been, it had reminded him of how much Easter meant to him and how much the children meant to him. And that... that was priceless.

And this year's spring was truly breathtaking. The only emotion Bunny seemed capable of feeling at the moment was _pride_ for the scene in front of him - pride and the renewed feeling of hope for the new year.

Bunny was glad to be back in the field, delivering Easter and sharing that hope around the world.

But there was still just that _one _little thing still niggling at the back of his mind...

He sighed quietly and almost rolled his eyes in exasperation when yet _another_ soft breeze, slightly colder than the rest of the spring air, brushed against his fur and chilled his nose slightly. As much as he wanted to stay focused on delivering his holiday, _this_ had gone on long enough.

The Pooka had continued his route with a winter tagalong for the last seven hours, and so far the kid had made a remarkable effort to remain hidden and out of his sight. Jack had not pulled a single prank and had not yet gotten bored with whatever he was doing and taken off to do whatever fun activities that somehow managed to keep him occupied. And those were honestly the only two outcomes that Bunny had initially considered for Jack to be following him around for but... now he was certain that Jack was out here for some other reason.

"Did North send you?" Bunny finally called out, turning around and looking pointedly in the direction he knew the winter spirit was lurking, waiting.

There was a moment of complete silence and when nothing moved... but then slowly, Jack peered cautiously from around a tree, some thirty yards back or so. Bunny could tell by the expression on his face, even from the distance, that Jack was genuinely surprised that he'd been detected. The thought made Bunny smirk inwardly.

Did the kid really think he could sneak up on him? And on _today_ of all days?

Bunny shook his head with good humor. He was going to have to talk to Jack about that.

He waited patiently as Jack seemed to try to decide what to do about this clearly unexpected development in whatever he had going on, before his shoulders slumped and he finally just flew over. He perched in a tree much closer to where Bunny was standing, his ever present staff in one hand. Bunny couldn't help but notice that Jack kept himself safely out of easy reach - he had learned over the past year that Jack very much liked his personal space - a side effect from having to avoid being walked through all the time, Bunny imagined - and that most often the proximity between Jack and others was very deliberate on the winter spirit's part. But this kind of behavior usually only sparked up around them when Jack was nervous or on edge about something.

Which struck Bunny as strange since the last time he'd seen Jack, they had left on pretty good terms.

"Bunny!" Jack greeted with false surprise. "Fancy seeing you here...", he trailed off at the deadpanned, _I'm-not-buying-this-for-a-second_ look that he gave him.

"Did North send you out here?" Bunny asked again, taking further note of the rather serious and somber demeanor that Jack had about him, that belied the cheerful face he was putting on.

Jack fidgeted nervously. "No," He admitted. " I haven't spoken to North for a while... I came here myself."

Bunny found himself even more interested. "You've been tailing me for a few hours - I noticed you a while back. What have you been doing?" He asked curiously.

_And why? _Because Jack _wasn't _here to play any jokes on him, he already knew. If that had been his plan, he'd have done it hours ago and been on his way. Jack just seemed too serious for something like that right now.

Though Bunny really wasn't sure what it could be and honestly, why else would the winter spirit be following him around all day?

Jack twisted his staff in his hands, watching him warily for any hint of anger and baffling Bunny all the more with his out of character behavior. The kid was usually a cocky, somewhat endearing nuisance - what the heck was going on?

"I've just been... keeping an eye out... you know, that way in case anything happens I can be here to help you this time." Jack said in a rush, avoiding his eyes.

Oh.

_Oh._

Bunny stared at him in surprise. Of all the possible explanations for Jack's unexpected presence... that had not been one of them.

Truthfully, Bunny had been only a little bit concerned about today himself... but it would be a good long while, he thought, before Pitch would be showing his face again and so he hadn't really given it too much thought. They'd chased him back into his hole and that was that. Everything was how it should be.

He was expecting this year to be one of his best and so far, everything was running as smoothly as possible.

The others, since he'd seen them a few days ago, had wished him luck and a Happy Easter - but that was as far as it had gone. There had been no voiced concerns for him or about today in any way, though Bunny had seen a few concerned looks being exchanged when they thought he wasn't looking. But they had not offered their services and he would have kindly said no if they had.

Jack had not been there and today was actually the first time that he'd seen him in quite some time - since the beginning of March, if he remembered correctly - though he wasn't terribly sure why Jack hadn't been around much recently. But he had just figured that the youngest guardian might have simply wanted some space, which was something that he could easily relate to...

But now... now Bunny couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't something more to it than that. Jack's demeanor... the very way he'd gone about following him around - cautiously and from a distance - made the Pooka think that it had something to do with him.

"You could have just come out and said it. I wouldn't have been mad at you." Bunny said slowly, carefully watching for Jack's reaction.

He wasn't disappointed. The look on Jack's face told him that the winter spirit had clearly expected otherwise. He seemed to be surprised that his mere presence wasn't being met with annoyance and hostility or that he wasn't being chased off or something - Bunny's past reactions to Jack showing up on his holiday.

"Well... you know..." Jack laughed a little nervously. "I was almost expecting you to ask me to stay out of your way... It's one of the reasons I've been avoiding the Pole lately. I was afraid that... well..." Jack trailed off uncertainly.

Suddenly, it all simply clicked together for Bunny... Jack was afraid that they'd _make _him stay out of his way - that they would do something that would keep him from interfering with Easter in any way possible. Take away his staff or try to restrict him to the Pole, perhaps. It would never have happened, of course. The very idea of doing that to a friend was... disturbing, to say the least. It was a _serious _breach of trust and it was something Bunny would never want anyone to ever do to _him_.

He sure as heck would _never_ have allowed anybody to do it to Jack, even before the events of last Easter. Grudge or no grudge, it would not have happened.

"You thought that we would keep you out of the way." Bunny finished slowly, feeling his heart sink a little when Jack only fidgeted uncomfortably in reply.

But it seemed obvious that Jack feared just that - he didn't like to be tied down or trapped, they already knew quite well. He was very used to the complete freedom he'd had for three centuries - to be able to go and do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it. And being an elemental just made him all the more connected to the outdoors. To have that just _taken_ away... to be trapped within four walls with nowhere to go was probably a terrifying idea to him.

And to be fair, Bunny could see where he'd probably _get_ the idea.

They did, after all, hunt him down and throw him in a bag just so that they could talk to him. And Easter... well, Easter had _not_ ended well last year, to put it mildly. The way they all had treated Jack, even under the strain and pressure of what had happened, had been very wrong, Bunny knew. They had asked for _his_ help - Jack hadn't sought them out in anyway. But he had agreed to help them anyways and when things had gotten bad, they turned on him without hesitation and without thought.

What Bunny had almost done...well... it was not one of his proudest moments, to say the very least and it had caused some major trust issues between the two of them over the past year... ones that could have been easily avoided.

But Bunny _knew_ that last year's Easter disaster had not been Jack's fault and he held nothing against the kid.

Looking at Jack's nervous expression now brought sharply to mind the kid's expression after he finally caught up with them all last Easter...

Bunny had reflected about what had happened then over and over for the past couple of months and with a much clearer mind than he had had with him on that terrible morning. It didn't take much to jog his memory. He could _so_ plainly see Jack's expression, so genuinely shocked and horrified and _disappointed. _And the disappointment was aimed at no one but himself for failing to be there with them. He had _wanted_ to be there with them!

He and the others had attempted on several occasions to find out exactly _what_ had happened between Jack and Pitch, but to their disappointment the winter spirit was determinedly vague about the subject and rather pointedly expressed his disinterest in talking about it when it came up. But whatever had happened... Bunny was willing to bet on his boomerangs that Jack had done whatever he could to try and get back to help them.

Bunny remembered that Jack had been out of sorts himself when he appeared in the clearing - he had been disheveled and almost uncertain of what was around him, as if he'd walked out of a particularly confusing and frightening fun house...the way he had stared at the memory box in his hand, as if still trying to understand _how _it had gotten there...

It just wasn't right - and blimey, why would he have come _back? _If Jack had sold them out and had gotten what he wanted... there would be no logical reason for him to come back unless he hadn't meant to be away in the first place.

It all just seemed so _obvious _now. Bunny just wished he'd been able to see it last year.

The blame for what happened last Easter could only be placed on one person.

And that person was _Pitch_.

Pitch, that shadow slinking _coward_, was a master manipulator - he had managed to get the four of them to the Pole so that he'd be free to launch an attack on the Tooth Palace - and he had done it with ease. Not one of them had seen it coming - Bunnyhadn't even believed that Pitch could be back! And then Jack came into play as a serious threat to Pitch's plan, even from the beginning. It was evident that Pitch had not anticipated him being there at all... and they should have expected that he would find a way to eliminate the unexpected problem.

And he did. Pitch got Jack on his own and used something that the kid had wanted _very _desperately to get his attention. Pitch had reeled Jack in the same way he had reeled them all in...

They should have known - in fact they had known - before Jack had left to take Sophie home, they had made an effort, however small, to convince Jack to stay and let Toothiana take her home.

_Pitch was out there. _They had said. They had _known, _if just on some small, subconscious level, that Pitch would try something.

Therein, some of the blame laid with them as well.

Bunny figured, after having thought about it for some time, that the two must have had interactions with each other in the past - the way that Jack had so _knowingly _watched the shadows around him at the Tooth Palace certainly suggested so, as did the way they had spoken to each other - but Jack shouldn't have been expected to know everything Pitch could and _would_ do to get him out of the way.

That had been another mistake on their part, however small it may have been. But Bunny decided that he wouldn't dwell on it too much. The past was in the past and there wasn't anything he could do about it now. What he did feel was regret that _none _of them had taken the time over the past year to explain this to _Jack _and tell him that they understood and didn't blame him for what had happened.

Being confronted with the still insecure spirit now made him realize that what mattered now was that he fix the problem.

It may be his busiest day of the year, but there was _no way _that he was going to let any of this go by unaddressed for another minute.

"Look... Jack, you need to know that I'd never have done that to you." Bunny said slowly, hoping that he could express the sincerity he felt correctly. Out of all the guardians, he was probably the one who was the least adequate to be having a heart to heart conversation with _Jack. _But since he and the others knew that a confrontation, good or bad, was inevitable, meant he was at least somewhat prepared for it.

After a brief moment of watching him, Jack stepped off the branch of the tree and landed lightly on the lush green grass below, coming to stand a few feet away, his expression now mildly curious.

_"_And what happened last Easter... that wasn't your fault, mate. I know that and so do the others." Jack slowly cocked an eyebrow at him, an _oh really?_ expression appearing on his face. Bunny hurried to continue. "You don't think it was coincidence that none of that was brought up in Burgess, do ya?" He asked.

Jack stared at him for a moment before simply shrugging in response. "You guys needed me to fight for you." He said in reply.

The urge to do what Jack had once called a _head desk _was suddenly overwhelming and he shook his head slightly.

They _really _should have addressed this sooner.

"Jack... we didn't bring it up because we knew it wasn't your fault." Bunny sighed in exasperation. "Look mate, losing Easter affected all of us and you can't say that it wasn't justified." He pointed out, not willing to take blame where he didn't deserve it. "But what we did to _you_ was wrong. It didn't take long after you left for us to start thinking a little clearer and realize that we made a mistake."

A huge mistake really. But after a good hour and a half period of calming down and thinking back on what had happened and Jack's reaction to it all, it didn't take much to put the pieces of what had _really_ happened together. Tooth had suggested, perhaps a little frantically, that they look for Jack... but none of them _knew_ him. They didn't know where he might have gone and at that point the lights had begun to fade out.

Jack was quiet for a few seconds, absentmindedly rubbing his staff softly with one hand, creating a soft blue glow against it wherever he touched it.

"You just assumed though," Jack finally said. "That I had betrayed you. I never even got the chance to explain what had happened. You just assumed, because I had my memories, that I had gone behind your back. Not that _Pitch_ might have done something... but that _I_ did." Jack looked up at him with a calm expression... but his eyes were sad. Hurt. Maybe even accusing.

Bunny had the idle thought that this conversation would probably be going very differently if it had happened on another day.

He shrugged though. "Yeah, we did." Bunny admitted. There was no point in denying it and it would be offensive to say otherwise. "Though I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but we _have_ tried to find out what happened since then. You're not very forthcoming." Bunny smirked slightly at the winter spirit to keep the mood light and was rewarded when Jack tossed him a familiar grin in return.

"Noticed that did you?"

"Is there a reason?" Bunny asked, prodding a little.

Jack waved his hand dismissively, trying to brush it off. "It's not important anymore." But Bunny must have looked as unconvinced as he felt because Jack paused dropped his shoulders, relenting a tiny bit.

"Pitch was right," Jack explained. "When I was down in his lair he, uh... _predicted_ what would happen... I hadn't wanted to disappoint you - any of you... and I did." Jack raised his eyes to meet his. "I'm sorry about that." He said, his expression sincere.

There was more, much more to it then what Jack had said, but the kid was obviously uncomfortable with it and Bunny decided to let it go for now, feeling rather pleased that Jack had opened up with him at all.

"Well. You made a pretty spectacular return." Bunny said. "And you're here now. I didn't expect that."

Jack smiled, relaxing. "I wanted Easter to go well this year and to make up for what happened last year."

"So what... Winter is protecting Spring now, huh?" Bunny asked, poking fun.

Jack laughed and ran a hand through his white hair. "You can't tell anyone, okay?" He said seriously, before grinning at him. "It would ruin my reputation."

Bunny chuckled and nudged Jack with his shoulder. "No. You wouldn't want to lose _that_." He said teasingly, while at the same time tapping his foot against the ground three times. "You've put far too much work into it to just let it go now."

"Darn right I have." Jack agreed readily, leaning casually against his staff, his face pressed against the ancient wood. His attention then turned to the scene around them as three smallish holes opened up in the ground in front of where they stood.

For a moment, nothing happened. A minute went by and Bunny saw concern slowly beginning to appear on Jack's face before he turned to him in silent question.

Bunny smirked and motioned to the holes.

_Watch._

Jack's brow furrowed in confusion and he turned back just in time to watch the first egg appear from the tunnel. It was a rich green, lighter up towards the top and darker on the bottom to where it was almost black with swirls and sprays of gold painted delicately across it.

It was very pretty, beautiful even - one of the ones Bunny had personally painted for the year. There was one or two in every batch that went out everywhere in the world and this year he'd done the very best he could on all of them. He'd wanted them to be perfect.

The egg paused for only a moment, as if processing the scene in front of it, before quickly speeding away on its tiny little legs towards the flowers and bushes to hide itself properly.

A small smile lit up Jack's face and he relaxed against his staff once more as the rest of the horde literally began to _pour_ themselves out from the tunnels.

It was quite a sight to see - just a huge flowing mass of color on tiny legs spreading out in every direction. Some of the eggs even pushed and shoved each other to get to a certain spot before the magic in them died, fighting with each other rather comically.

They were quiet, both watching hundreds of little eggs running through the park, hiding themselves in every place imaginable. The bushes and grass, out in the open, hidden in the roots of trees and in and around the playground.

It was without a doubt, one of the prettiest sights there was to see, in Bunny's opinion.

"Thank you, Jack." Bunny said, breaking the companionable silence between them. Jack looked up at him in surprise at the words. "For doing this, I mean - you didn't have too."

"Anytime." Jack said sincerely.

All the eggs were just about hidden now - the last ones were just settling into their final spots. The egg hunt itself would start in an hour or so and it was time for him to move on to other locations. Bunny had already lingered here longer then he usually would.

"Well," He breathed, casting a glance at Jack.

"You've got to go." Jack finished for him, his eyes light and not offended, accepting what Bunny suddenly realized could be easily perceived as just another dismissal...

Bunny nodded slowly even as Jack's eyes swept the park once more, a soft smile on his face at the sight.

"Happy Easter, Bunny." Jack said sincerely, glancing back at him with a look of admiration on his face. "You deserve to have a good one."

A warmth rushed through him at Jack's words and there was no doubt in Bunny's mind that the younger guardian meant them. He once again regretted that he had never taken the time to get to know Jack before the events of last Easter.

He was still an obnoxious, irritating brat and Bunny would never, _ever_ say otherwise... but when all was said and done, Jack Frost was someone worth being friends with.

"Would you like to help?" Bunny asked suddenly, surprising even himself with the offer. But the moment he said it, the idea felt completely _right. _Jack had been dismissed and ignored by him - by everyone - for far too long. Not anymore though.

Jack paused, his blue eyes widening in surprise at the unexpected offer. "You want _me_ to... wait, _what?_" He said in disbelief.

"_Help. _Me. With Easter." Bunny said slowly, enunciating each word deliberately. "I've still got about two million more of these eggs to shepherd into their proper places 'fore the day is over. Would you like to help get the job done?"

Jack stared at him for a moment as if trying to decide if Bunny was being serious or not. A few seconds later of careful scrutiny though, a small smile began to tug at his lips and his blue eyes began to dance in excitement.

"Why not?" Jack finally said, grinning hugely. "It could be fun."

Bunny grinned back.

With Jack, how could it be anything but?

* * *

FINIS!

Thank you for reading and I am sorry that it's so late!

A big shout out to my wonderful beta, **Drowning-Ostrich**! Without her help, I swear this story wouldn't have been half as good.

Please review and let me know what you think! I'd love to hear any comments you may have about this!


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